No Hint of Scandal (Ulverscroft Large Print Series)

Rating:
Summary: A good evening's read
Review: I've had a session of rewarding myself by rereading some of the books I thoroughly enjoy recently, and as the reviews now link up with each other I thought I'd mention a few. SHEILA BISHOP's No Hint of Scandal is one of them. The book is set in the country, the major characters are three brothers, Richard, lord of the manor, and now a widower, Theo vicar of the parish, and Verney the younger brother who has not been quite as respectable as Louisa, Theo's wife might wish. The plot twists back and forth. Even some interesting attempts at blackmail.

From the back of the book....

No scandal has cast a shadow over the Capel family for at least three generations. So when Verney Capel is forced to resign from his regiment, his family are not very pleased - especially when he plays fast and loose with the affections of Harriet Piper, a local heiress. Harriet longs to be loved, but she is unable to compete with fascinating Julia Johnson. There is some sort of mystery about Julia, but by the time it begins to come out she has married into the Capel family, and what can be done to stave off disaster? Harriet ventures into the fray and makes some astonishing discoveries...

Rating:
Summary: Traditional Regency set in the country
Review: I've had a session of rewarding myself by rereading some of the books I thoroughly enjoy recently, and as the reviews now link up with each other I thought I'd mention a few. SHEILA BISHOP's No Hint of Scandal is one of them. The book is set in the country, the major characters are three brothers, Richard, lord of the manor, and now a widower, Theo vicar of the parish, and Verney the younger brother who has not been quite as respectable as Louisa, Theo's wife might wish. The plot twists back and forth. Even some interesting attempts at blackmail.

From the back of the book....

No scandal has cast a shadow over the Capel family for at least three generations. So when Verney Capel is forced to resign from his regiment, his family are not very pleased - especially when he plays fast and loose with the affections of Harriet Piper, a local heiress. Harriet longs to be loved, but she is unable to compete with fascinating Julia Johnson. There is some sort of mystery about Julia, but by the time it begins to come out she has married into the Capel family, and what can be done to stave off disaster? Harriet ventures into the fray and makes some astonishing discoveries...

Rating:
Summary: A good evening's read
Review: This is a fairly short book, which means some limitations in character development. However, Ms. Bishop manages to pack a great deal of both plot and suspense into this short space. The strong points are watching the main character evolve from a gauche girl to a young woman whose dreams are beginning to come true; and a story that keeps you engaged and guessing. I read almost all in a single sitting, though I didn't intend to.

The one negative point is that the book was written when the double standard for men and women was alive and well, and it forms one of the central points of the story. The unfairness of it kept me gritting my teeth. Other than that I enjoyed it, although the character of the Vicar's wife is perhaps a little overdrawn.